Petdad

“Do I have to finish this assignment before recess?”

“Do we have to do the whole page?”

“Do we have to write in cursive?”

When the question is asked with a ‘have-to’ qualifier, it sounds painstaking as if the act of ‘having-to’ is such a chore that nothing but drudgery comes to mind. When my students ask me a “Do I have to…” question, I have a comeback line…”Ask me that exact same question but this time, replace the word ‘have’ with ‘get’.” The look on their faces are usually of genuine confusion as the question in their mind was formulated with ‘have’, so re-wording is often a challenge.

“Do I get to finish this assignment before recess?”

“Do we get to do the whole page?”

“Do we get to write in cursive?”

Oh my goodness…what opportunity! Their questions are now poised in such a positive fashion that self-realization is generally recognized. I look at my students with a big smile and respond, “Yes!, you do get to finish this assignment before recess!” “Yes!, you do get to do the whole page!” “Yes!, you do get to write in cursive!”

Internally, my students know they were required to ‘do’ the work I assign, but I suppose just like everyone else, we typically choose the path of least resistance. If we can ‘get-by’ with less, why ‘do’ more? That’s ok, but now any self-imposed negativity is removed from the question. I’m thinking that’s a great life-skill, seeking opportunity where none seemingly exist.

Tomorrow, I am scheduled to return to school and prepare my room for summer. The rooms are set to be sprayed with an atomizing disinfectant in a few weeks. No, returning to my classroom is not something I really want to do right now. Germs have me apprehensive about being in the very physical space that I have not occupied for over 7 weeks now.

I am breathing, I am here. I get to go to school tomorrow.

I never create a piece of art and consider it finished, ever. The same goes for written pieces. Once a piece is published, I am constantly re-reading and re-writing the piece in my head. Often this occurs overnight.

In my waking hour today, I revisited the post from last night, NEW Words, New Phrases. The update better reflects what I wanted to convey.

Time-Shift, Blame-Shift, Social Distance, Alternative Reality, Alternative Facts, Mis-Remember…Really?

If you have ever read the iconic book 1984 by George Orwell, you know that new words and/or phrases are created by those who NEED to control reality based on the overall desire of the system in Power. A system created by those who NEED to document a current social situation by changing the norm into something that is OK.

If one wants the current condition of social norms to remain intact then history is on course based on what is allowed to occur.

Yikes everyone! For those who see BEYOND the self-serving individualistic approach to living, then you realize that this type of mindset is NOT one that is realistic.

WAKE-UP PEOPLE!

Do the right thing! Lean in to what you know to be true!

Do not become part of a current trend that contributes to, and seems to embrace a new Edition of the American English dictionary. We want to avoid the possibility of adding words such as ‘doubleplusgood’, and then ultimately eliminate true words of value. That is called Newspeak.

Words are words. One cannot make up new words or phrases based on false truths.

I am uncomfortable with words and/or phrases that are introduced simply to address a false positive based on a hunch, or collective ‘gut’ feelings.

At the very least words should be used properly, not very strongly.

It is amazing how fast time passes when one is suddenly thrown into the throngs of unexpected change. For the past three weeks I have been instructing my classroom students, all online. We have not physically been in our classroom since March 13.

Our current pandemic is tough, for everyone. Everyone.

Planning and implementing online instruction is challenging enough. Then there is the task of trying to connect with your students. If successful with both, hopefully students will actually DO the assignments and then submit their work.

This is our life, at least for now. For school-aged children, educators around the world are trying to make lemonade from lemons. Our future is theirs.

Look for more inside, and you will find more outside. -Petdad

If you are like me, you have had a lot of time recently to self-reflect. In the Musings tab is a new essay titled Grateful. It was not only cathartic for me to write, but it has been cathartic for me to read, more than once. What originally began as a Post, the essay Grateful kept getting longer and needed its own residence. Be grateful today.

It was only a short time ago that our daily lives were routine. We dealt with the typical daily ‘monkey-wrenches’ that always occurred. We knew certain circumstances would most likely transpire throughout the day, yet there was always more that we didn’t expect and would need to provide solutions for.

With the current state of COVID-19 and the valid health concerns across the globe, I am questioning much of what we have always taken for granted…

I wonder what will become of social/human interaction.

I wonder about the future of paper and coins for world currency.

I wonder about the future of education.

I wonder about the future of small business.

I wonder about the inevitable shift of large business.

I wonder about the future of public gatherings.

I wonder about the future of restaurants and fast food chains.

I wonder about the worlds population. Will our current state of being increase or create a downward trend in global population?

I wonder what all this means for handling of processed foods, farm-grown foods.

These points occupy some of my day and the ‘list’ is certainly not complete.

I just published an essay under the Musings tab titled Change. I’ve wanted to write it for many days, but because there has been so much in the news lately, it became difficult for me to keep up with any one particular thought or message. I have not yet proof-read the essay, I just published it as is, for now. I just needed to get it out.

I am an eternal optimist. Everything will always be ok. Times may be difficult or challenging, but they always settle, eventually. Perhaps it is really our perception of ‘normal’ and personal acceptance of ‘what is’ that really changes. I am, like everyone else, distraught and concerned, but I am still optimistic.

I awoke late today. Thinking that perhaps only minutes went by after my alarm signaled, I looked at the time on my watch which is something I never do. Instead of minutes having passed, I saw that 2 hours had slipped by me and I didn’t even realize it. I was 2 hours late.

Two hours late sounds bad, probably really bad as ‘late’ is late. What was I going to do now with ‘only’ three hours ahead of me before I needed to leave for school? Instead of my usual 5-6 pre-school hours, I had nearly half the time. Disappointed? Somewhat, but after once again coming to grips with my mortal state of being, I accepted my wake-up error.

If I had woken up to my usual time of 2:00am, I would have had time to play the piano, do some reading, do some writing, and exercise afterwards. Who is driving this demanding train of activities?..Me.

There comes a time when one must relinquish control to the physiological abilities and limitations of oneself. This can occur often and any given time, or in periodic spurts. At least I can still manage its’ frequency, for now.

Expectations are high for myself, and for those around me. I believe we should all have high expectations, or at least lofty goals to work toward. With that level of loftiness however, and through the humbling passage of time, I realize that none of this is emotionally healthy or physically sustainable without grace.

Grace, something we need to be reminded of constantly. At least I need to be reminded of it. Receiving necessary hours of sleep shouldn’t be something that we become frustrated by when our bodies tell us that we need more, for whatever reason. I needed the additional sleep and I knew it when I closed my eyes the previous night. But I wanted to ‘power through it’ and wake at my usual time.

I may have wanted to cut my body’s restoration period short, just so that I could get my typical daily routine started. But today offered me a necessary change in my schedule, one that required a level of personal acceptance and relinquishment of control. So therefore my wake-up time is actually ok, or at least should be ok, today.

No, I didn’t get to play piano for two hours, and no my morning routine was somewhat modified. But my perspective on the day depends on me. Therefore I need to ask myself…did I really wake-up late?

Under the Musings tab is a just-published essay on Flow, the comfortable feeling we get when things are proceeding just as planned. When any execution of a specific task works as desired or expected. No, Flow doesn’t always work out ‘as designed’, so what do we learn when this happens? Something to definitely think about…